HN Books @HNBooksMonth

The Clojure Programming book, it's excellent both for beginners and advanced users (I've been using Clojure since 2013).

https://www.amazon.com/Clojure-Programming-Practical-Lisp-Wo...

A lot of tips and insight of how to do and not to do things in Clojure without too much hype. "Practical Lisp for the Java World" - the title does not lie :).

⬐ puredanger

Clojure Programming is great, but is at this point pretty old. Thanks to the stability of Clojure, the language parts are largely still accurate, but it is missing features from the last several Clojure releases and the the evolution of the ecosystem outside the language.

⬐ raspasov

Yes, I agree. Your book (Programming Clojure) is great at that and quite up-to-date I believe.

If you choose Clojure get

https://www.amazon.com/Clojure-Programming-Practical-Lisp-Wo...

and

https://www.amazon.com/Clojure-Cookbook-Recipes-Functional-P...

these two books are much better than the free documentation for learning how to "Think in Clojure". Expect to read them over and over again, maybe sitting on the bus, spinning at the gym, or any time you can.

Conceive of a cool demo that would get upvoted on HN, be put on your LinkedIn page, get talked about at an interview. Start with something small and scale up until it "clicks"

I would recommend Python as a practical language which I see customers asking for by name. Python has great libraries for making web sites and apps, as well as data analysis, graphing, "intelligent" applications involving machine learning, etc. Python lets you get the abstract syntax tree from the compiler and transform it, so LISP-style metaprogramming is convenient and mainstream.

I have been paid to write Scala and I do not think it is a better choice than Clojure, Python or even Java. C# is the best "better Java" at the moment, although Java is slowly catching up. If you want type systems and static metaprogramming that will blow your mind, learn the very latest in C++.

That's a very broad question, so I read your comments to get a feel from where you might be coming from and/or going to and where you and I might overlap:

* Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Antifragile, things that gain from disorder http://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Disorder-Incer...

* Jared Diamond. The World until yesterday, what can we learn from traditional societies http://www.amazon.com/World-Until-Yesterday-Traditional-Soci...

* Frans de Waal. The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates http://www.amazon.com/Bonobo-Atheist-Search-Humanism-Primate...

* John Higgs. The KLF: Chaos, Magic... http://www.amazon.com/KLF-Chaos-Magic-Music-Money-ebook/dp/B...

* Joseph Jaworski. Synchronicity, the inner Path of leadership http://www.amazon.com/Synchronicity-The-Inner-Path-Leadershi...

* Piero Ferrucci. Your Inner Will, finding personal strength in critical times http://www.amazon.com/Your-Inner-Will-Personal-Strength/dp/0...

* William Irvine. A Guide to the good life, the ancient art of stoic joy http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-Stoic/dp/01953...

* Chogyam Trungpa. Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior http://www.amazon.com/Shambhala-Sacred-Warrior-Chogyam-Trung...

* Tomas Malik. Patience with God: The Story of Zacchaeus Continuing In Us http://www.amazon.com/Patience-God-Story-Zacchaeus-Continuin...

* Nick Winter. The Motivation Hacker http://www.amazon.com/Motivation-Hacker-Nick-Winter/dp/09892...

* Chas Emerick, Brian Carper, Christophe Grad. Clojure Programming http://www.amazon.com/Clojure-Programming-Chas-Emerick/dp/14...

Fiction:

* Peter Hamilton - The Reality Dysfunction

* Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon (his other hit: Snow Crash is surprisingly more history then SF now...)

1. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, by James W. Loewen

http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/074...

2. Clojure Programming, by Chas Emerick

http://www.amazon.com/Clojure-Programming-Chas-Emerick/dp/14...

3. Zorba the Greek, by Nikos Kazantzakis

http://www.amazon.com/Zorba-Greek-Nikos-Kazantzakis/dp/06848...

Andrew mentioned The Joy of Clojure (http://www.amazon.com/The-Joy-Clojure-Thinking-Way/dp/193518...) and Clojure Programming (http://www.amazon.com/Clojure-Programming-Chas-Emerick/dp/14...). Both books are good, and each has its strong points.

The Joy of Clojure goes into to Clojure philosophy and explains the "Why?" of Clojure. Clojure Programming is divided into five parts, and parts III and IV provide a good overview of how to set up your environment and structure projects.

But the best book for learning the language is Programming Clojure (http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Clojure-Stuart-Halloway/dp...) by Stu Halloway. Stu works alongside Rich and understands Clojure at a deep level, but he's still in tune to the beginner's mind and is able to clearly explain concepts and provide the context you need for the ideas to resonate.

⬐ andrewvc

I disagree, I found joy to be a much better text for learning than halloway's book. Halloway's book didn't have as good a flow from one section into the next and felt more disjointed

⬐ cgag

I haven't read Halloway's, but I found the O'reilly book much more helpful for learning Clojure than The Joy of Clojure. They're both great, but I'd definitely read the O'Reilly book before Joy.

⬐ edwinnathaniel

Thank you for pointing these amazing resources. I've had the fortune of being able to borrow The Joy of Clojure from my alma-mater library and I was surprised by the size of the book! Maybe there's life after Java after all!! :D

⬐ runevault

I haven't read through 2nd edition of Programming Clojure yet, but comparing it and Joy is silly IMO, as Joy is built around the idea of being the book you read after you understand the basics of Clojure as taught by one of the other two books mentioned (or other resources).

Joy is the one book I consider a necessity to getting a deep understanding of the language without spending as much time as you might attempting the same understanding on your own.